“She already knows her colors?” I didn’t know much about children, but I was impressed.
“Oh, yes. She’s every bit as smart as her big sister.” The queen watched her daughter struggle to pull a red bloom from a plant for a moment before turning to me. “They are both going to give their fathers hell when the time comes. But I’m not going to warn my mates yet.” Her laughter was mischievous and carefree, the sound of a woman comfortable in her life, who knew exactly where she belonged, and with who.
“How is Princess Allayna doing?”
Leah’s face was softer than I’d last seen it. The lines around her eyes far less pronounced. She looked like she had finally had some sleep.
“She is doing well. The doctor is keeping under close watch. He wants to check on her a couple times a day to make sure she doesn’t suffer any lingering effects, but her injuries have healed.”
“That’s wonderful news.”
“Yes.” The queen wiped a tear from her cheek as Lilliana brought her a bright red bloom. “Thank you love. Can you find mommy one that is blue?”
With a joyful laugh only a child can have, the little girl took off again, running this time.
Once Lilliana was far enough away that she could not hear us, the queen turned to me. “The prisoner has not cooperated. We have learned nothing new. I don’t know what to do now. We are tracking all their known associates, of course, but everything is a dead end.”
“Smart criminals.”
“The worst kind.”
Indeed. She was correct. Stupid got caught. Smart, patient bad guys were dangerous with a capital D. “Let me help. Please. I can go through the evidence, look for things your team might have missed. I can interrogate the prisoners as well. Sometimes they’ll talk to a woman, admit things they would never admit to a man.”
“Oh, no. I could never ask you to do that.”
What? “Why not? That’s why I’m here. I want to help.”
“But Mal said—” Queen Leah stopped midsentence.
“Mal said what? Exactly?” Something ugly bubbled in my blood. I had a feeling I knew where this was going.
The queen turned and took my hand in hers to comfort me.
I was going to kill him.
“I know you don’t want anyone to know how hard this has been for you. He didn’t tell anyone else. Just me.”
“Didn’t tell anyone else what?”
“You know, your nightmares. How much you’ve been struggling since your close call. I’ve never been choked out before, but I can’t imagine what that must be like.”
“Thank you, I appreciate your concern. But I’m okay. I’ll feel better if I have something to do to keep myself busy.”
She nodded. “I understand. Mal told me you would say that. He’s very worried about you.” She took a luminescent blue flower from her daughter’s small hand and sent her off to find orange.
“He said that? He actually said he was worried about me?” Liar. He wouldn’t speak to me. Wouldn’t touch me.
Nausea twisted my stomach and I had to take a deep breath in through my nose to keep its contents down. Mal had betrayed me. How the hell did he know about my nightmares? I never spoke of them. Never. I’d learned a long time ago to keep quiet when I slept, nightmares or not. How dare he tell the queen I wasn’t fit to continue the mission?
Howdarehe?
“Yes.” She nudged me with her shoulder as if we were best friends sharing a secret. “I think he’s in love with you.”
“Oh, no. He’s not. Trust me.”
“I know these guys. I’ve spent years watching them, listening to them. He’s in love with you.”
No. But there was no sense arguing with the queen of an entire planet, even if she was human, and a woman acting like we were besties. She was still a queen, and I was…what? A poor little girl too traumatized to do the one job she’d been sent to this planet to do?
